DS Kitchen // Cake Pops

A couple weeks ago I made some cake pops for my best friend's baby shower. She's having a little boy, and I wanted to make some cute treats to share. The ingredients are simple, you just need to give yourself enough time to complete each step and allow for the cake pops to set.

What you'll need:

1. Your choice of cake mix - I chose a simple, white cake.

2. Your choice of frosting - I went with vanilla.

3. Lollipop sticks - You can purchase these at a craft store, like Michael's.

4. Mini cupcake papers 

5. Melting chocolate - I chose baby boy blue and dark chocolate.

5. Sprinkles - this is optional. Feel free to decorate however you choose.

6. A large bowl to mix your ingredients, and later to mix cake + icing.

7. Wax paper

8. A sheet cake pan and a baking sheet.

9. Styrofoam block

Instructions:

Prepare your cake mix following the instructions on the box, and bake. Once your cake has finished baking and cooling, crumble the cake into a large mixing bowl. You want to crumble the cake into a very fine texture. I recommend slicing the top 'crust' off the top of the cake, and using only the inside of the cake. The outer crust is very hard to crumble down, and leaves chunks in your cake pop.

Next, mix in spoonfuls of icing into your bowl of crumbled cake. You're looking to create a Playdoh-like texture. There is no need to use the entire jar of icing, you need just enough to be able to roll the cake mixture into balls. These treats are very, very sweet, so I recommend that you use the icing sparingly.

Next, line your baking sheet with wax paper. Roll the cake mixture into balls about the size of a golf ball. Once all your cake balls are formed, you'll need to chill them so the mixture can set. I usually keep them in the freezer for 15-20 minutes.

Once your mixture has set, warm up a portion of your melting chocolate in a microwavable dish. Then take a lollipop stick, dip the end in the melting chocolate, and insert the stick about half way through each pop. Repeat the chilling process until the melted chocolate has hardened and the stick feels secure. I usually put them back in the freezer for another 15 minutes.

Once the melted chocolate has hardened enough to support the pop, you can begin melting the remaining chocolate in your microwavable dish. Then coat each cake pop with the melted chocolate, using a spoon or knife to smooth off the excess. After this step add sprinkles while the chocolate coating is still soft. When your pop is fully coated, secure the lollipop stick into the Styrofoam block. This block is really important because it will allow the chocolate to harden and maintain the shape of the cake pop. 

Place the Styrofoam block of cake pops back in the freezer for 20 minutes. When the chocolate has hardened, place each pop in a mini cupcake paper and arrange on a tray for serving.

 I wanted to personalize these pops, so I printed up some tags on sticker paper and added them on at the end. Enjoy!